Dumbledore the General

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 124211


>>Phoenixgod:
<snip>
>And it struck me that the Order was losing the last war right up 
until  Voldemort blasted himself into atoms by attacking the Potters.
>So my question is, is Dumbledore really the best person to be 
leading this war?  The order of the Phoenix independant of the 
government and you would think that would give them a lot of leeway  
to act since they don't have to act within the law.<

Betsy:
I agree with Pippin that it was the Ministry losing the first war.  
Has the Order ever been a legitimate branch of the government?  It's 
certainly made up of folk of whom the Ministry disapproves, 
Muggleborns, half-breeds, at least one werewolf.  I have my doubts 
that the Ministry was even aware of Dumbledore's merry band of 
brothers.  And if they were aware, I'm sure any intelligence 
gathered, or advice given was ignored.

I'm sure of that, because as Pippin also pointed out, all of the 
tactics you suggested, Pheonixgod, that Dumbledore frowns on, were 
actually used by the Ministry in the first war.  And all those 
tactics did was push more and more folks to Voldemort's side.  

Of course, the reason the Ministry pushed folks to Voldemort's side 
is that they refused to correctly identify the enemy.  As Pippin 
said, the Ministry was hung up (and is still, actually) in matters of 
blood and purity.  Rather than go after true Death Eaters, they 
pushed down on werewolves and giants - giving Voldemort powerful 
allies, and room to manuever.

Dumbledore has been long holding the tide.  He has a trusted few (and 
the original Order was not that big as per Moody's picture) that he 
used to keep a fingernail's grip on keeping victory from Voldemort's 
grasp while trying to convince the Ministry to change it's tactics.

As far as simply taking out known Death Eaters, I think it's 
important to remember that the Death Eaters are, for the most part, 
purebloods.  The Order couldn't take them openly - the Ministry would 
have turned on the Order so fast, their heads would have spun.  And I 
doubt the purebloods are easy to take out stealthly.  Purebloods have 
survived in a hostile environment (surrounded by Muggles) for 
generations.  I'm quite sure their ancestral homes (even the leaking, 
moth-eaten ones) are incredibly well warded.

Plus, I don't think they were that easy to identify.  The Dark Mark 
seems to come and go (Sirius didn't seem aware of it in GoF), and the 
Death Eaters seem to mask their identity even from each other.  So 
I'm not sure that Snape would have had that large a list of names for 
Dumbledore.

Also, when Voldemort was at his hight, I doubt the Death Eaters were 
all that important to him.  I imagine they were fairly easily 
replaced.

As far as the war today - I disagree that Dumbledore has been merely 
reacting, and I also disagree that he's been doing all that bad of a 
job in fighting Voldemort.  For one, Harry is still alive, which is 
huge.  For another, Voldemort is no longer operating in shadows, 
which is also huge.  Voldemort is not immortal (no Stone), which is 
not a small thing.  Voldemort doesn't know the extent of Harry's 
threat to him, again not a small thing.  Plus, one of Voldemort's 
best placed operatives, Lucius, has been exposed and his influence at 
the Ministry nullified.

Really, Voldemort's only victory has been gaining a body.  And even 
in that I suspect the victory is incomplete.  Dumbledore's gleam of 
triumph when Harry told him that Voldemort can now touch him at the 
end of GoF suggests that using Harry's blood may not have been a good 
move on Voldemort's part.

No, I think Dumbledore is a fine general.  I think the near loss in 
the first war had more to do with the Ministry not allowing 
Dumbledore to lead than any lack on Dumbledore's account.  When 
Dumbledore is given his head, as he has been in the last fifteen 
years, he does alright.

Betsy